Hellbent
by Khor Evik Vlakhavlakh
Summary: Exiled for a crime done to protect his sister, beaten for the amusement of a sadistic man and sent to Beacon as final reward from the same man, Jaune Arc is determined to uphold his last promise to his sister Joan, a promise to hide the words "I'm not coming back". Rated M for violence.
1. Chapter 1

**_Hey everyone, I'm back again with another story. I don't know if you care, but this is kinda related to The Grimm of Beacon. I made people vote there (Arkos or Lancaster). The ship that loses will be the ship in this fic, so everyone's happy. Right?_**

 ** _Anyway, I expect this to be harsh._**

 _"Up!", said the man before him, hissing the syllable as if he hated it. "Again!"_

 _The boy groaned his pain as he staggered to his feet and straightened himself, his broken arm limp by his side. In the other hand, a kris-like sword was ready to fight, although the boy already knew he was going to lose again, and to be beaten again. It always ended like that. He had never even been able to score solid hit on the man before him._

 _As he expected, the man charged as soon as he was standing, easily dodging the clumsy attack and dragging his axe-blade across his chest, creating a long and red wound all across his ribcage. Ignoring the pain like he'd done a hundred times before, the boy tried to slash at his opponent, only for his swing to hit the air when the man moved again, kicking him straight in the stomach, like he'd done hundreds times before, sending him flying and landing on his broken arm, muffling a scream of pain._

 _"You're weak", laughed the man. "I see why your family abandoned you. You aren't worth the dirt under my boots, why should you be worth being their son?"_

 _He gritted his teeth as he stumbled on his feet, only to be knocked down again as the man punched him in the face._

 _"How does it feel? To be powerless, useless, unwanted by your own family, exiled, bleeding, in pain and completely at my mercy?". He cackled evilly. "I am not a merciful man. You are amusing. In your weakness, I have to admit you are amusing. Your will to go on, your indomitable spirit..."._

 _The boy cried out in pain as a boot fell down on his wounded chest, pinning him down. "All useless, if you don't have the strength to fight and win. Your will... a mere word. Without power, you can do nothing". The man removed his boot and lifted him up, staring at him. "You have been amusing, but it's time for me to go. I played with you for years. But after all the fun you brought me, I feel like I owe you at least one thing"._

 _The man tore off the cloth covering his eyes and stared straight into the boy's unfocused blue eyes. "I will bring you to Vale, where you will be able to attend Beacon and maybe you'll reach the power you so desperately need". He smirked when the boy stifled a cry of pain as he let him fall back on the ground. "Am I a generous man? Of course I am... and before we finish our little game, hear my advice: you can win as many times as you want, but you can lose only once. Keep this in mind when you will be at Beacon"._

 _The boy could only nod before a boot connected to his face, knocking him out._

Jaune Arc awoke from his memory as easily as he had fallen into it, without the smallest movement or change in his expression. All around him many other teenagers were gushing over how awesome Beacon was and how great it looked, but he himself wasn't interested in that. As long as it was Beacon, he was fine with it.

There were many people in the Bullhead. He heard two sisters not too far away speaking about a stopped robbery, their names Yang for the older one and Ruby for the younger. A bit separated from the others stood a boy and a girl, Ren and Nora respectively, although their isolation was more because of fear of the hyperactive girl than their own choice, but they didn't seem to mind. In a corner there was a girl who was completely silent, but every time someone came too close, she would stealthily sneak away. In her scent he could make out the faintest hint of fur. A Faunus, then. Among the other students there was also Weiss Schnee, easily recognizable by the imperious sound of her voice and the massive amount of ridiculously expensive perfumes she had on her persona. Another girl, one who he heard being called Pyrrha Nikos, was wearing some kind of armour, if he had to guess something very light except for her legs, and high heels. He would never understand why Huntresses wore heels. They hindered movement like nothing else.

After Professor Glynda Goodwitch had welcomed them to Beacon, he had been expecting the students to break into excited chatter, but he was pleasantly surprised when that didn't happen. Maybe there was something about the woman that had shut them all up. He _had_ indeed heard the silence after she had spoken.

He heard and felt the Bullhead gears beginning to slow down, sign they were approaching their destination, and thus that his own destination was nearby. Beacon Academy. After his `instructor` had unlocked his Aura and sent him to Vale with a train ticket bought with money no doubt coming from illegal methods, Jaune had wanted only one thing from life: attend Beacon Academy. He still remembered that when he was younger, he and his twin sister Joan used to dream about being heroes. Then he had been exiled and he had met the man who had beaten him for two years before sending him to Beacon.

Now, he didn't want to be a hero any more, not for the reasons he had when he was younger. At the naive age of fifteen, he had wanted to become a hero to help and protect people, to save the innocent people from the Grimm... but now he knew the truth. The so-called `innocents` could be monsters. He had been exiled because of those `innocents`. The Faunus had felt the need to create the White Fang because of those `innocents`. Many modern-age tyrants ruled freely because those `innocents` didn't care. Many `innocents` were forced to become criminals in order to survive, all because the other `innocents` hadn't cared about them.

Now, he wanted to attend Beacon Academy because his sister had always wanted to, and she never had the chance to realize her dream. Now, he wanted to become a hero because he had promised Joan, when he left his house, that he would become a hero. That he would become stronger and attend Beacon. That he would become a Huntsman. Now, he only wanted to fulfil a promise made to a crying girl on the threshold of a house that wasn't home any more, while holding that girl in his arms to comfort her, even when he already knew he wasn't ever coming back.

It was the least he could do for her. Joan, his damnation, his salvation, the one he promised to become a hero. And even if the other Arcs had told him that his name wasn't Arc any more, because he wasn't part of their family any more, he would never go back on his word. Not even if he had to kill all the Grimm on the planet. He would die rather than break his promise, even if it was an empty promise aimed only to comfort a crying girl during a clear Spring night.

The Bullhead smoothly slowed to a stop and the doors opened, letting the students out and into Beacon's courtyard. Jaune sighed as he followed the stream, hanging in the back of the crowd, feeling the warm rays of the Sun fighting off the freshness the air conditioning system of the Bullhead had left on his skin. The students chattered like a flock of birds, talking about their expectations and their fears, and making up improbable hypothesis about the oncoming year at Beacon Academy. He frowned when he heard a deep male voice -deep usually indicating size larger than average- commenting how he would like for Beacon not to accept `animals`, clearly referring to the Faunus. How he hated those appellatives. Even if the Faunus had _some_ animal traits, humans could be much more _bestial_.

Although it was also true that Faunus too had done horrible things.

He shook his head. There were no `innocents` in the world. Just people who had done less evil than the average. Only a newborn could be deemed `innocent`. He frowned. It was also true, thought, that often people turned out how they were because of what had happened in their pasts. The White Fang had turned into a murderous terrorist gang after the years of terror and racism from the humans. In a way, they were all `innocents`.

How he hated that word.

Innocent. Guiltless. Blameless. Innocuous. Naive. It was amusing how different words could have such a similar meaning, and yet be completely different. He had been guiltless, in his own way, but he was far from innocuous, naive or innocent. `Innocent` was too used and too little thought about. People used that word without really knowing if what or who they're using it to was really `innocent`. For example, the short girl who smelled like rose petals, Ruby if he wasn't wrong, was probably innocent when meaning naive, but surely she wasn't guiltless. Even when she had seen the Dust -he could _smell_ it from where he stood, for Oum's sake- she hadn't taken any steps away, instead standing right in the middle of the cloud of extremely volatile Dust and finally igniting it with a sneeze. Of course the other girl, the overly perfumed Weiss Schnee, shouldn't have agitated the vial of Dust, and she should've stopped as soon as she had seen the leak, a rookie mistake for someone who knew so much on Dust. They were both blameable for the accident.

When a third girl, the Faunus from the ship, approached them, she became blameable too, since she intentionally shot a not-so-veiled insult to the Schnee. She wasn't innocent, but at the same time she was right to accuse the Schnee Dust Company of slavery and Faunus exploit. Did that made her completely guilty for provoking the Schnee, or did that justify her actions? It wasn't an easy question. Someone who had never heard of the slavery would've said that her words were harsh and also aimed to the wrong person, since Weiss Schnee wasn't the CEO of the Schnee Dust Company, but someone who was informed about it would've probably agreed with her in condemning the Schnee family.

He was neutral. The answer simply didn't exist. There wasn't a real line between good and evil, because there was _no_ Good and Evil. What was good? Donating food to the poor might've been good, but if that food was donated only to gain reputation and ascend to power? Not so much. Killing a person wasn't good, but if that person was hurting a child, maybe it wasn't so bad either. Stealing was wrong, but if you were doing it only because you had to in order to feed your own family, didn't that make _you_ the victim? He had no answer to those questions. He'd leave it to other people to discuss and discriminate over that. He had no time for such idiocies.

Walking up to the young girl had been out of a moment of pity. She hadn't gotten up from the ground, she had given up. Her position reminded him of all the times he'd found himself in that position, a boot on his chest or a blade merrily piercing his skin and flesh as the man pressed it deeper just to watch him suffer. He liked to think that even after two years passed being beaten -he wouldn't lie and say `training`. That hadn't been training, although he did learn from it- he was different from the man. He wouldn't laugh and leave her on the ground like he'd done with him. He was better than that.

He walked up to her and offered her a hand, in silence. It wasn't as if there was something to say, after all. He felt her tiny hand grab his gloved one and he pulled, lifting her on her feet. She was really light and short, and if the sound of her footsteps as she shuffled awkwardly on the spot was any indication, she wasn't wearing heels, but combat boots. There was also something else, a rustling sound that probably came from a skirt or a cape, or maybe both. He was also sure of the cape, hearing it shift with every movement the girl made, and fairly sure of the skirt, hearing it brush against her legs every now and then.

"So~", she said, a tiny, lively and acute voice. She was probably younger than he was. "I'm Ruby".

He nodded. "Jaune", he introduced himself, and then they fell silent again. He had nothing to say, and he could almost feel her nervousness. The light but continuous shuffling of her feet, her slightly irregular breathing, the small noises she made through closed lips, as if she was trying to come up with something to say, but she couldn't find it in her to say it. And then there was the very atmosphere around her. It was lively, but at the moment he could feel she was nervous. Not that she shouldn't have been: they had just met, after all.

He stifled a sigh as he used one of his trump cards to break the silence. "Can you guide me to the atrium?", he asked, although he didn't need to. He had heard the students walk in that direction, and the air was still saturated with the students' scents, so he could've just followed that trail and reached the atrium without any problem. But asking for `help` had worked before, and he was fairly sure it would work with her, too.

"Oh... you're blind?", she asked, looking up at him. His face was hidden both by his hood and by the thick cloth covering his eyes and upper face, so she couldn't really tell, but her tone indicated his plan had worked, and she was less nervous now.

Instead of answering vocally, he nodded. There was no denying it. After all, he _was_ blind, although he could move and fight perfectly even without his sight. His other senses, included the famous `six sense`, his empathy, his insight and instincts and his Aura provided him with all he needed to know about his surroundings. He would go as far as saying that he saw more than many people saw. Firstly, because he wasn't able to judge just by the appearance of a person. He had no idea if the clothes Ruby was wearing were expensive or not, or if she was wearing much make-up... although he doubted it, since the only scent on her that wasn't hers was a slight rose perfume that only highlighted her natural rose petals scent -seriously, the girl smelled like roses- and a slight dog scent, probably from a pet at home, since it would've been different, had she been a Faunus. While other people could make themselves a mental image of Ruby based off what they saw of her, he had to find out personally. It was a better way to get to know people. Sight wasn't needed when you were observing a person.

For example, when he heard her soft `oh` of pity and compassion, he learned that Ruby was a compassionate person, although she didn't know what being blind was like. For many people, being blind was a curse, especially for the ones who weren't. For the ones who accepted it and worked hard to make up for it, sometimes it was a blessing. Ruby didn't know that, but she had a good heart and she felt sorry for him. The atmosphere around her had gone from nervous to sorry.

"Okay, then, take my hand and follow me", she said, trying to grab his hand, but he stepped back and she missed. "Oh?".

"I don't need you to lead me by hand", he explained wearily. Some people really thought that blinds were completely incapable of moving. How did she think he had found her on the ground? "Just walk and I'll follow your footsteps".

"Oh... okay", she repeated, awkwardly beginning to walk, slowly at first but faster once she noticed he was keeping up without any problem. "So~... I have this thing~".

He stiffened at the sound of unfolding metal and mechanisms. It was clearly something with gears and clockworks. From the sound it made when the end hit the ground, it must've been large but not extremely heavy, since it was the girl's weapon, and she herself was pretty petite. Just before it hit the ground, he heard the hiss of a blade cutting through air, so her weapon was a bladed one. He doubted it was a sword, since she would've carried normally and he would've heard it moving on her back or at her hip. An axe or a mace were improbable, too, because the girl seemed too gracile to use those kind of weapon, and that ruled out halberds too. Since it had unfolded, it was probably a polearm, large but not heavy. A pike or a spear could've been, but it had a blade, so those were ruled out. There were very few other polearms with a blade, especially so when he had to consider the size of the wielder. If he was right, it must've been something she could spin to avoid having to use her own strength to attack, and instead use the weight of the weapon. So something with a blade on the top, and useful when spun. The fastest answer that came to mind was a scythe. Quite a bit unwieldy, but who was he to judge?

"Is that a scythe?", he asked just to confirm his hypothesis.

"It's also a customizable, high-impact sniper rifle", she said, loading a round. The sound made him frown. The barrel had to be hidden in the pole, since he doubted the blade of the scythe could've housed a `high-impact sniper rifle`. Also, if it was a sniper rifle, she would've to have the scope mounted where she could use it. The sound of the loading was loud, and near, so he guessed it was a manually reloadable rifle. Often, that mean a really high calibre.

"That's cool", he replied, more out of politeness than out of real interest. Yes, it was cool, but weapons needed to be effective, not cool.

"So what do _you_ have?", she asked, evidently interested.

He gestured at himself. "It would be a bit long to explain, but you can just take a look. I've got all my equipment on myself", he replied almost with disinterest. If his senses were right, they were moving away from the atrium, so he decided to change the subject. "By the way, weren't we going to the auditorium?".

"Yes, why... oh, wait, do you know where the auditorium is?", she asked, panic clear in her voice and how she almost jumped on the spot, trying to calm herself down.

"Me? I was following you", he laughed. The girl was amusing, he had to give her that. Apparently, she had forgotten he was blind. He didn't know if to feel amused or touched by that. Yes, it was funny, but finding someone able to forget his `handicap` so easily was good. Ruby seemed alright, so he decided to help her out with their path. "However, if I'm not wrong, the other students went that way".

"Oh, really?", exclaimed Ruby, realization creeping in her voice, probably after she had looked and seen the atrium. "Oh, right, let's go!".

He chuckled as he jogged after her, following the sounds of her running footsteps.

The two arrived soon after, and from the sounds of it the atrium was already full of people. How loathsome. He hated crowds. His senses were sharp and trained enough to avoid being overwhelmed by the sounds of a multitude of hormonal students in full excited-mode, but that didn't mean it was a pleasant experience. He had hoped Ruby could keep him company, but the voice of her older sister, Yang if he wasn't wrong, called her away, leaving him alone once again. Not that he really complained. It wasn't bad to be alone. Especially if he'd have to share a room with other people for the next four years.

He couldn't help but overhead the conversation Weiss and Ruby had immediately afterwards. He admired Ruby's willingness to be friends with a girl who basically yelled at her over nothing and then had a hand in causing an explosion with Dust. But he also couldn't help but notice how naive Ruby was. Did she really think Weiss would've given her a chance just because Big Sis had told them to start anew? The sarcasm was so thick he could've walked on it without problem, and that wasn't his Semblance or something like that.

A new voice tore him from his thoughts. It was a moderately deep voice, without doubt male, and old. Not the tone, even though even that sounded old, but more of the inflexion. It was the voice of someone who had lived long, and had begun to ponder on every decision and every word before speaking. The voice was old, way older than anything he'd ever heard before, apart from the sounds of Nature itself.

"I'll keep this brief", said the voice. _'The welcoming speech'_ , guessed Jaune. _'So this must be Ozpin. I doubt he would delegate the speech to others'_. "You've travelled here today in search of knowledge, to hone your craft and acquire new skills. And when you've finished, you plan to dedicate your life to the protection of the people".

Jaune frowned. Normally, reading people's voice was manageable, if not downright easy with the most open of people, but he really couldn't read the Headmaster's. He sounded serious and grave, but there was something else. Not like the headmaster was hiding something... more like there was something he was thinking about even while speaking, and it wasn't the welcoming speech. It was frustrating not being able to read his voice.

"But I look among you, and all I see is wasted energy, in need of purpose... direction". Jaune felt a spike of irritation at the man's words, but judging from how easily and carelessly he had said them, he either was the best offender in the world, or he hadn't meant them in an offensive way. "You assume knowledge will free you of this, but your time at this school will prove you that knowledge can carry you only so far... it's up to you, to make the first step".

The man walked away, a his footsteps accompanied by a drier, louder sound. The man used a cane, although he wasn't leaning on it, otherwise it would've made a much louder noise, and his footsteps would've been much lighter. A second pair of footsteps walked forward, probably a woman since he could hear heels, and he had yet to meet a man wearing heels, especially high ones like the ones the woman was wearing. Judging from the soft rustling coming from her, she too had a cloak, although a different one since hers, as opposite to Ruby's, didn't touch the ground.

"You will gather in the ballroom tonight", she said, and he recognized Professor Glynda Goodwitch's voice, stern and professional. "Tomorrow, your initiation begins. Be ready".

Jaune stiffened, his frown strengthening. He knew he would have to sleep in the same room as his teammates, once the year started, but not that he would have to sleep with _everyone_ else. He had already noticed the stares he was getting for his hood, that covered part of his face, and his weapons, that covered part of his body. He already imagined the stares he would receive without them. No, the weapons he would give up, but he would find a way not to be seen. As long as nobody saw him, he was fine with sleeping with the others. He would go to sleep later and get up earlier.

With that goal in mind, he stored his weapons in his locker, honestly taking a lot of time purposefully, before _slowly_ making his way to the ballroom. He could hear the continuous chitchat of the students, and he -unfortunately- could also _smell_ the odour of said students. Amassing so many people in just one room wasn't the most odourless solution for the housing of said students, especially if one of those students was blind and had trained his olfactory sense in order to make up for the lack of sight. Sweat, several perfumes and deodorants sprayed to cover the sweat, beer from at least a couple of students, other scents from the Faunuses... there was enough to fill a book. He tried to ignored the smell and instead walked up to his sleeping bag, that he had dragged away from the others. Basing on the sounds of sparse conversation and in some cases the odours of perfumes and deodorants, he managed to avoid all the students, ignoring the stares he could feel digging into his figure. The less interested he looked, the sooner those stares would've gone away.

As he predicted, many lost interest in the still fully-clothed boy and continued their chatter. Embarrassingly enough, he could hear perfectly well almost half the conversation in the room, since they didn't exactly tried to whisper. So he learned that one of the boys in a corner had an overly affectionate aunt that showered him in embarrassing compliments and gave him candies every time she came over to visit. One of the girls had already got her eyes on a boy, and she was discussing him with her friends, in the end agreeing with a well-earned eight in handsomeness rating. A boy with even more perfume and deodorant than Weiss Schnee herself boasted around about his... _ehm ehm_... _length_... and how it was the largest among his three brother's... something he really didn't need to know. Another boy -the one he heard calling the Faunus `animals` in the courtyard- was laughing alongside other three voices -boys, given the timbre- about Faunus not being true _men_ but true _beasts_. He was liking that guy less and less every second that passed.

Four girls -Ruby, her sister Yang, Weiss Schnee, and the cat Faunus girl from the courtyard- began and _ended_ an argument, and finally the silence fell on them all. He could hear the shuffling of blankets as the students finally went to bed. He waited for half an hour before grabbing his blanket and walking out of the ballroom, into the bathroom. He quickly removed his clothes and folded them carefully, blindly of course, before wrapping himself in the blankets just in case one of the Faunus was still awake, and walking back into the ballroom. He heard no gasp of surprise nor snort of laughter, so he guessed nobody would disturb him any further. He fell on his bed and listened to the students' steady breathing.

The next morning he would have to do the same thing, unless he decided to dress himself from under the blanket, and in any case he would have to do it before any of the students awoke. He wasn't particularly worried. He had learned to sleep very little and he could move like a cat -no offence to the Faunus girl-, so it wouldn't be a problem. And even if a Faunus was to wake up and see him, he would've been hidden by his blanket. The problem had been solved. Now it was time to sleep.

And hope for no nightmares.

 _ **Guess who's the man who `trained` Jaune?**_

 _ **God, it has been hard to describe everything without using the sight. I've passed an entire hour with my eyes closed to try and listen to my other senses. And I've discovered that my brother is very loud when cursing at his videogame.**_

 _ **Since this will get the ship that loses the pool of The Grimm of Beacon, you can vote here too, just keep in mind to specify if you want the ship here or in The Grimm of Beacon.**_

 _ **Until next time,**_

 _ **Khor Evik Vlakhavlakh**_


	2. Chapter 2

**_And here there is the second chapter for Hellbent, where I'll explain vaguely what happened that forced Jaune to leave home._**

 ** _Enjoy._**

 _The sky was clear, and the stars were shining as if to mock the two teenagers hugging at the door. One was a tall boy with messy blond hair and azure eyes, while the other was a just as tall girl with long black hair and bright green eyes. The girl was crying, hugging him for dear life. The boy was trembling too, but he was fighting back the tears._

 _"There is nothing you can do, Joan", he said softly. "You need to let me go"._

 _"Why?", she asked for the umpteenth time. "Why it had to be you?"._

 _"You already know the answer", he replied bitterly. "This is not my decision. If it were up to me, I would remain. I would remain and I would stay with you all... but it's not up to me to decide"._

 _"You were protecting me", she said for the umpteenth time, and the response was the same as the other times._

 _"I was protecting you at the first hit, at the second, and the third", he murmured, closing his eyes and inhaling her hair's scent deeply. "I wasn't protecting you any more at the tenth, nor at the thirtieth"._

 _"He attacked me!", she wailed in his shoulder._

 _"And I killed him", he replied, placing his cheek on her head. "I beat him. He couldn't do anything else. But instead of turning him in for aggression, I continued to hit him until he stopped moving, and then until he stopped breathing". He closed his eyes as a now familiar sense of nausea washed through him. He had killed a person..._

 _...but it had been to protect Joan._

 _"But this? Why this?", she asked in tears. "Why do this?"._

 _"Who would want a wolf among the sheep?", he asked bitterly. "They fear that there will be a second time, and I'll kill another one. I'm a murderer, Joan"._

 _"You're a hero", she argued. "To me, you will always be a hero"._

 _"I'm no hero, Joan. I'm weak, and even with him I won only because I picked up a piece of wood and I hit him with that", he retorted, wiping off a single tear from his eye. "Heroes have the strength to avoid hurting people. If I had been a hero, I would've found a way to stop him without killing him"._

 _"It doesn't matter", she replied. "You're a hero to me, and that's all I care about"._

 _"But the world isn't you, Joan, and the world looks at me as a murderer now", he whispered in her hair. "They're gonna forgive me only if I walk out of their lives. I have to go, Joan, and you can't do anything about it"._

 _"I could come with you", she offered, and she meant it._

 _"And so adding suspected incest to certified murder?", countered Jaune, laughing bitterly. "No, Joan, what you can do is to stay here and live. I know you want to travel when you're older. Then do it. As soon as you can, move out of this town. Go to Vacuo: I've heard they have beautiful beaches there. Move out and live your life"._

 _"Jaune?"._

 _"Yes, sis?"._

 _"You're a hero. You may not think so, but you are. You risked yourself to help me, and even if you couldn't save him because you were angry, this doesn't make you any less heroic. Heroes are humans, and humans have emotions, Jaune. Sometimes those emotions make us make mistakes", she murmured in his shoulder, and he barely heard her. "Become stronger, then. Become the hero we always wanted to become growing up. For me. Do this for me. Don't ever give up. Continue fighting for what you believe is right. Be a hero"._

 _He looked away, closing his eyes as tears finally came through, blurring his vision. "I will"._

 _"You're not coming back, are you?", she asked, staring at him._

 _All around them, the world began to turn black and wither, fracturing into tiny pieces of dark dirt. He looked at it as it crumbled around him. He wouldn't lie to his sister, the girl he had killed for. He wouldn't, and he couldn't._

 _"Live your life, Joan. Find someone to share it with, maybe have children if you want them, live a full, happy life", he said finally. "Do this for me, because I..."._

 _The world was only the two of them now. Joan's tears had dried up now, and she was glaring up at the clear sky. Nature seemed to be mocking them. The worst day of their lives, it wasn't raining like usual. It was a beautiful day._

 _"I'm not ever coming back"._

Jaune awoke quietly. His dreams were always on the same subject: Joan, the girl he had saved from aggression, the girl for who he had damned his own life. He really hoped it hadn't been for nothing. It wasn't directly her fault. She had just gone out for a walk, laughing like always at their parents' warnings about returning before dark. He had gone with her, but the two of them had separated during their walk. It had been well before dark, and the sky had been sunny and serene.

Then he had heard her cry out for help.

Of course, he had run as fast as he had been able to, grabbing a long wooden staff on the way. It hadn't been a very good staff, but it had been fine and hard wood. He had burst into a alley only to find a drunk man hitting his sister. Fury had flared inside, red-hot and all-consuming. He had leapt on the man, hitting him time and again in every spot he had been able to reach. The man had been drunk, he hadn't even tried to actively defend himself. At first he had just fallen on the ground, begging for him to stop. Then he had stopped moving, and finally he had been laying in a pool of his own blood.

Too horrified by what he'd done, Jaune had just stood there until the police had arrived, alerted by the cries for help. Joan had told them the whole story, but Jaune hadn't even been able to speak a word. The next days had been hard for everyone. The man hadn't been particularly loved by the town, but a murder was a murder, no matter the reason. Especially because it had been committed by a civilian. The major had consulted the police's chieftain and had decided to forgive him and chalk off his behaviour as stress-induced madness. However, they had also decided that he was too dangerous to keep near his family. If seeing his sister being attacked by a drunk, who would've probably just left her alone after a few hits, had resulted in murder, what would've happened if one of his sisters got really hurt?

Oh, they weren't wrong. He would've caused all the mayhem he would've been able to cause.

And so they had exiled him. As long as he kept away from the city, he would've been forgiven. His family had protested long and hard against it, but in the end they were forced to oblige. He had reassured them he would be safe, and that he deserved it for what he'd done. He had been overprotective to a crime, and he had to pay for it. He remembered that all the Arcs had dressed in black that day, without exclusion. He had farewelled them all and then had disappeared from their lives.

Probably forever.

He could still recall his parents' devastated expressions, his older sisters pleas not to go, and his younger sisters confused expressions. They had been ten at the time, and they hadn't realized what it meant `I'm going away`. Bitterly, he guessed that they had soon learned its meaning. But Joan had been the worst. She had avoided him until the moment he exited the door, and then she had hugged him, begging him not to go. He knew she had felt responsible for what had happened, but there was no coming back. He had killed a person, and he had had to pay for it. The man had been drunk and dangerous, but murder couldn't be forgiven easily even in that case.

Jaune sighed as he quickly dressed up from beneath the sheets. From the sounds of it, no one else had awoken before him, so he now just had to wait. Since no one was awake to look, he decided to let himself have some air, removing the cloth from his eyes and pulling back the hood. The fresh air of Vale's night, although polluted by the several odours from the students, was still a blessing on his skin. With another sigh, he opened his eyes, looking around. He could see it wasn't completely dark, but it everything was too blurred to even recognize the shapes. He looked down at his hands, and he only knew he was looking at them because he could see some kind of movement within the blur before him. His eyes began to burn and he blinked, easing it. He wasn't used to blink any more, nor to have his eyes uncovered. It was pleasant, but it brought up far too painful memories.

He heard the shuffling of blankets and a soft groan. Either someone was having troubled sleep, or they were waking up. He quickly tied the cloth back around his head and pulled up his hood, hiding his face again. He stood still until he could heard at least half of the students had awoken and started to get up, and only then he moved. Not that he would really need other students to be awake, but he didn't want to attract too much attention on himself. He got up and packed his things, walking to the showers.

After a thorough cleaning, he headed for the cafeteria, where he had a brief breakfast. It was all he could do not to snort at the ridiculous foods offered there. In the end, he opted for fruits and vegetables, what he had eaten during his time in the Grimmlands with the man who `trained` him. Maybe he would take some meat for lunch, but for breakfast it was better that way. He could live without eating pasta, sandwiches or any complex dish. He wouldn't mind some fish sometimes, but most of the time vegetables and meat was perfectly fine. Simple and nutrient, and for the vegetables you didn't even need to cook them, just wash them... and that was if you were picky.

Of course, Ruby had to sit at his table. Her scent preceded her, and her footsteps only confirmed the fact that yes, the smaller girl had just walked over and sat at his table. Much less obvious was the fact that a second scent, wisteria if he wasn't wrong and a hint of burning coal, and the second sound of footsteps, heavier than Ruby's. Probably, her sister had accompanied her. He just hoped they would leave him to eat in peace.

"So, you're Jaune, right?", asked Ruby's companion. From her voice he could tell it really was Yang, the older sister. "I'm Yang, Ruby's older sister!"

So much for eating in peace. He should've learned by then not to taunt fate. He nodded in silence, not wanting to lead her on. The faster the conversation died, the better it was for him. Also, it wasn't like he had many chances to be assigned to their own team. There were plenty other students... he just hoped he wouldn't end up with that boy who called Faunus `animals`. He didn't want to be accused of murder again. However, Yang seemed unfazed by his silence.

"Ruby told me you're blind", she continued. "Born or become?".

He frowned. His blindness wasn't a curse for him, and it wasn't a difficult thing to talk about for him, but how he had been blinded was another thing altogether. It would've been easy to just lie and say he had been born blind... but if they _did_ end up in the same team, they would eventually find out. "Become", he answered wearily, trying to make her understand not to pry any further. Ruby seemed to understand, as he could heard the kick she gave the older girl under the table.

Yang, however, seemed to have the subtlety of a charging Ursa. "Uh? And how?", she asked. "Was it in an epic fight with a big bad Grimm?".

His frown turned into a scowl. Scratch what he had thought earlier: Ruby was nothing if compared to her sister's childishness. And lack of empathy. Did she really thought that only because she had asked, he should reply? His irritation flared, and he angrily bit into an apple to delay his answer as much as he could. Maybe that would give Yang the time to recognize her mistake and back off. He didn't need a prier, especially not if they ended up on the same team. It was highly improbable, but after all it was just as improbable to be assigned to someone else's team. Stacking all those low chances together, he could only hope.

"So~?", she urged him, her tone overly flirty as her voice got slightly louder, sign she had leaned in. "H-ow! Ruby! What was that for?".

He would've thanked Ruby for the help, hadn't he been busy chewing the apple into fine apple powder to ease his nerves. Okay, now he knew who could get under his skin. At the top of the list, Yang `Ruby's sister` Whatever-her-surname-was. Also the only one at Beacon who was on that list. He liked to think of himself as a patient person, but Yang's bluntness and utter lack of common sense irked him.

"Maybe it's a delicate subject!", Ruby hissed at her sister, probably thinking he wouldn't hear, and he docilely pretended not to be listening to their whispered conversation.

Yang went silent for a second, before stammering, embarrassed. "I-I'm sorry, I d-didn't think...".

"No, you didn't", he replied dryly. "But you're not the first and unfortunately it won't be the last".

An awkward silence fell on them, and nobody felt like interrupting it. Jaune finished eating his breakfast before walking out of the cafeteria and into the locker room. There was a lingering smell, and he remembered the path from the previous day. At first he proceeded blindly, but soon he caught his own scent lingering in the air, and followed it up to his locker. There were other people in the locker room, too, and he could image the stares he was getting. Keeping the hood up indoors _was_ considered impolite, after all.

The nearer he got to his own locker, the louder a certain pair of voices grew. One was without doubt Weiss Schnee, Heiress of the Schnee Dust Company, while the other belonged to the girl with the armour, Pyrrha Nikos if he wasn't wrong. They weren't on his path, so he just walked past them and up to his locker, although he couldn't help but overheard their conversation as he opened his locker and -in complete silence- began checking his weapons. None seemed to be missing, but he needed to check thoroughly, since he lacked sight to simply _see for himself_.

"So, Pyrrha, have you thought about what team you'll be in?", asked Weiss, her imperious voice acute and far too near for Jaune's liking. He didn't wish ill to the girl, but he surely wished she could step a few yards away.

Maybe a few miles, too.

"Actually, I was thinking of letting the chips fall where they may", replied the other girl. This near, Jaune could clearly pinpoint the source of the sound, meaning that he knew exactly where the girl's mouth was, and with that he could calculate where the rest of her body was, meaning that he could very well attack her and hit her with precision. The girl was tall, he had to admit. In heels, she was almost as tall as he was, if not as much. Instead, Weiss was drastically shorter, arriving maybe at his chin. Just slightly taller than Ruby herself.

"I was thinking...", said Weiss, dragging the syllable to catch the girl's full attention. If any of the two had noticed him, they hid it masterfully. "We could be on a team together".

"That would be grand", cheerlessly responded Pyrrha Nikos, and Jaune raised an eyebrow, although the movement was hidden by the bandage covering his eyes. If the girl had missed that, she was as oblivious as Yang... well, almost as oblivious as Yang.

Apparently, she _did_ miss the utter lack of enthusiasm in Pyrrha's tone, or maybe she just ignored it. He heard a quick rustling sound, and felt a very light breeze grazing his side, sign that the Schnee girl had moved. Probably spun on her heel, too, if he was right and the rustling sound was her skirt. He guessed she had seen him by now. And he wasn't wrong, although she evidently didn't expect him -or anyone, actually- to be there, because she yelped and stepped back, almost toppling Pyrrha over. Yeah, turning only to find a tall boy with his face hidden and a bandage over his eyes, with weapons in his hands, must've been quite alarming.

"You!", she exclaimed, and he raised an eyebrow at her, although she couldn't see it. Had they met before and she was recognizing him? "Why didn't you alert me of your presence?".

No, she wasn't recognizing him. She was berating him. He huffed. "Because we are in a school for Huntsmen and Huntresses. I shouldn't have had to", he replied tiredly. "You should've seen, heard, smelt or felt me or even just perceived my presence on your own, without me having to alert you of anything".

"That was rude!", she remarked. "And impolite, and... and why in the world are you wearing that bandage?".

He sighed again, but the other girl, Pyrrha, beat him to that. "Weiss... I think he can't see", she whispered to the other girl. Another one who thought blinds were deaf too.

There was a short moment of silence from Weiss, who was probably assimilating the new information, before she spoke again. "And what is a blind boy doing in a school like Beacon?", she said, her voice dripping condescension and pity. "You're just gonna get yourself killed".

"I'm not", he replied, sheathing one of his kris daggers into its sheath. "And as for the first question, to be trained, of course".

"How can you fight without seeing your enemies?", snorted Weiss, her voice less condescending and fuller of pity. "And how can you take notes in class, if you can't see?".

"I have my own way of taking notes, plus I have an impressive memory", retorted Jaune. It was true: after all, he could still remember how his family looked like. He could even recall a mental image of his family. "And I base my fight on my other senses. For example, I could easily attack you by smelling all the perfume you drowned yourself in, Ms Schnee. It's so strong it leaves a trail for almost an hour".

If she was impressed, she hid it well. "Sight is basilar for fighting. Without sight, you can't pinpoint the enemy's exact position, nor you can take notice of the formation of the ground you're fighting on", she argued valiantly but uselessly. "And since we're gonna be divided in teams, I might add that blindness will prevent you from taking note of where you own companions are, and end up messing teamwork up".

"Who say sight is necessary for fighting has never met a blind warrior before", he shot back, quickly drawing a heavy and pointed machete and placing its tip right under Weiss's chin, applying just enough pressure to make her tilt her head back and look at him dead in the eyes... bandage. Both she and Pyrrha probably reached for their weapons, given the sounds of it, but he simply removed the blade from Weiss's throat and sheathed it on his back with nonchalance. "I can base my fighting style on my other senses and my Aura. In my opinion, it's you the one who's fighting without using your full capability of perception".

Weiss was silent for a second. "So it would seem", she finally said, trailing off as if not completely convinced. "Anyway, you called me by surname, so I guess you know who I am".

"Not difficult to guess, even without really seeing you", grumbled Jaune.

"Do you know her?", she continued, probably gesturing to the other girl, although he couldn't see it.

"I've heard she's called Pyrrha Nikos, on the Bullhead", he replied lightly, grabbing another machete and letting it join its twin on his back. "If that's knowing, yes I know her. Otherwise, I fear I've never met her before". He paused for a second and turned to the other girl, pinpointing her direction by the faint sound of her breathing. "Anyway, hi".

"Hi", she replied cheerfully.

"This", remarked Weiss. "Is Pyrrha Nikos".

"Hello again", said girl stated.

"Small tip", continued the Schnee. "She graduated at the top of her class at Sanctum".

"Never heard of it", he shrugged. As far as he was concerned, a sanctum was either a safe place, or a holy one.

"Oh", scoffed Weiss, not at all put off by his ignorance. "She won the Mistral Regional Tournament, four times in a row... a new record, I might add".

Feeling the atmosphere beginning to tense up, Jaune decided to make one of the jokes he hated most in the world. "I fear I haven't seen her".

Weiss growled under her breath, now angry. Okay, not a good move, although Pyrrha had to stifle a giggle.

"She's on the front of every Pumpkin Pete's Marshmallow Flakes box!", exclaimed Weiss, earning the attention of several students nearby.

"Oh, really?", he asked, now interested. "Wow. If I remember right, Jinn and Jade love that cereal... and Jay too, although she won't ever admit it. That's cool".

"Yeah, it was really cool", agreed Pyrrha, sheepishly. "Unfortunately, it's not really healthy".

"That's what I always told them", nodded Jaune. "But I guess they learned it the time they found a dead spider -a big, hairy, dead spider- in a box... Jade almost missed it when she put the cereal in the bowl... she noticed only when she scooped it up with the spoon. Poor girl. She had the greatest and longest freak-out in the history of Remnant for that".

Both Weiss and Pyrrha whimpered at that. Nobody should find a spider in a box of cereal. Weiss, who had eaten it a couple of times before, sounded like she was keeping herself from throwing up, Pyrrha not too far behind.

"That's...", began the taller girl. "An effective way to learn?".

"You can say that", smirked the boy. "She never touched a cereal again, and she got arachnophobia".

#####

The wind was whipping his skin like icy blades, but he welcomed it gladly after being forced indoors with a herd of wild hormonal students. Ugh, the smell.. luckily it was over. Now, he could still feel their scents, like Ruby's of rose petals from beside him, but the wind made them all bearable. He was standing on a plate of metal. He couldn't define the exact metal from just tapping his foot on it and listening to the sound of it, but he could tell it was hollow underneath... either that, or housing mechanisms, and he wouldn't be surprised if it turned out to be the latter. It seemed many things had gears around there.

Most of those things were other students' weapons.

Not his. His weapons had no machinery in them, apart from the scabbard of Crocea Mors. Apart from the sword and the shield, he had a couple of machetes on his back, and a grand total of six krises, two at his waist, two at the sides of his legs and two on his torso. His armour had broken almost a year prior, so he just went with a reinforced leather armour, and hoped for the best.

Ozpin's little speech had been very interesting -lie- but he would've really liked to understand who was the idiot who just forced four random people together for four years and expected them to work together? Ozpin, apparently. And Goodwitch didn't disagree, either. His respect for the man fell off a cliff. He had the advantage of literally having to uncover his eyes, so he could at least choose his partner, but what about the rest of them? What about the rest of the team? He could really understand her when Ruby whimpered from beside him.

And then, when he was somehow -he suspected the metal plate for it- sent flying into the air, with absolutely no control over his direction nor angle of descent. How irksome. He hated those situations, where he could do nothing but prepare himself for the future and hope for the present. He heard several gunshots, although they were still up in the air, and he guessed some students were using the recoil of their ranged weapons to try and slow themselves down. The only problem was that, being blind, he _hadn't_ a ranged weapon. So he just resigned himself to his fate and free-fell down toward what Ozpin had said was a forest. If it was, then he'd be better be prepared.

Sighing, he unfolded Crocea Mors's scabbard into kite shield form and climbed on it as if surfing. Probably ridiculous, but it would serve his purpose. Keeping his shield in front of him to slow himself down even if just fractionally, and his legs slightly bent, ready to jump, he just had to wait a few more seconds before it happened.

As soon as the shield impacted against a tree, he jumped on the opposite direction, absolutely shattering said tree and the one behind that, but gracefully landing on the ground without many problems. Following his scent still lingering on the shield, he reached the weapon and picked it up, placing it back at his waist as he took out a machete and began slicing his way through the forest.

 _ **Okay, it's hard to imagine people's reaction to a blind student, but I guess it would be that. A mix of pity and disdain. And many opportunities to make dumb jokes... no, wait, blind jokes.**_

 _ **Until next time,**_

 _ **Khor Evik Vlakhavlakh**_


	3. Chapter 3

_**Hey everyone! I'm not dead yet!**_

 _ **Enjoy the chapter, anyway.**_

He caught the scent much sooner than he caught the sounds of her. Both would've been obvious signs of exactly who was coming through the bushes. The sounds of someone else, and their scent too, was just another little extra he didn't even need before he promptly made his decision.

He dived into a bush and waited for Weiss Icicle Schnee and Ruby Cookie Rose to pass.

Not that he particularly disliked the two. Ruby had been very kind and compassionate to him, and even though she thought like the others that blinds weren't even able to live without a nurse, he was kinda okay with her. He and Weiss hadn't exactly _argued_ during their first meeting, and he had to say he was impressed she had at least tried to _prove_ why being a blind warrior was an oxymoron, instead of just labelling him as incompetent and moving on like many others had done. He was praying the Gods not to end up with Yang. The girl had the subtlety not of a charging Ursa, but of a stampeding herd of Goliaths on fire with Nevermores picking off the remains. The Faunus girl, Blake if he had heard right, wasn't exactly high on his list, either. She seemed to be really silent and introvert. He would not have been a good teammate for her. She needed someone to drag her out of her silence like Ruby and Yang had done the night before... Mmh, yes, she would definitely need Yang's bluntness.

And he wasn't trying to get his fellow blonde off his own back. Mostly.

The girl called Pyrrha Nikos seemed pretty famous, given how many had asked her an autograph, or a selfie, or anything, and he really didn't want too many people around. He would already have to live with a team of who knew how many. In the case the two of them partnered up, he would have to warn her to keep her fandom away from him, or said fandom could find itself flung through a wall. The two teenagers he had perceived on the train, the isolated ones... well, they boy seemed kinda okay. Jaune still had to hear his voice, so he probably was as laconic and introvert as he was. The girl, however... he shivered. She was a nightmare. Endless energy, cheerful and nonsenseful talk, and the will to pester everyone around her with it. Yeah, she was probably one of his worst nightmares.

Still, they were better than others.

He would just leave Beacon in the case he got partnered with the racist boy. Not just because of him, but because he already knew their team wouldn't work. Not in the slightest. He would probably end up expelled for having sent the boy through a couple of walls. And laughing while doing so. His temper wasn't the calmest thing of him, and although with his friends he was patient... that wasn't the case for his enemies. The man he had lived with for the last two years had been very clear about the second part. He had taught him to be always aware... or rather Jaune had learned to be always aware during the endless beatings he got from that man. To that day, he still had to land a hit on him, and he would probably never had the chance to.

Who knew, maybe teams were made up nine people and he would get them all in his team.

He paled and shivered. _'Oum, everything but not that'_ , he prayed.

It wasn't that Jaune was so introvert and wary that he couldn't bear talking to people. It was just that he already knew he and his team would have many discussions on his status. If they were not-so-nice people, they would insult, belittle and try to intimidate him, and he would probably cause a brawl. If they were nice, they would try to keep him from doing anything, thinking that for a blind just sitting around would be better than to try and fail at doing other things because of his lack of sight.

When the man unlocked his Aura, Jaune had hoped for a Semblance to help him out with his lack of sight. Not for sight itself: he was fine without it, maybe even _better off_ without it. He had wanted a Semblance like that so people would've stopped treating him like a `poor, unlucky blind boy`. Instead, he got some crazy kind of telekinetic Semblance, only working on metals. It was absurd. Weren't Semblances supposed to be somehow related to someone's personality? Why would his Semblance have anything to do with manipulating metals?

Mysteries of life.

In the forest, he heard movements, paired with a faint scent of bronze, sweat, fire and orange. Since they sounded and smelled alone, he just decided to let them stumble into him. After all, if eye contact was needed, that meant he could easily choose his partner... if he hurried to find one. Who knew how many had already been taken.

Pyrrha Nikos -of course it was her- was definitely surprised, if her confused `err...` was any indication, at finding him on her path, standing stock-still in the middle of the forest, not even looking her way. Her footsteps stopped for a second before she warily closed the distance, using her weapon -a sword, but not a very long one- to cut through the bushes. He had already put the machete he had been using back into its scabbard, but he was otherwise ready to walk away in case the girl didn't turn out to be a good partner.

"Ehm... hello?", she asked, somewhat awkwardly. That was expected. He was used to people get off-kilter at his sight. Probably something about the fact that he was dressed in something vaguely resembling a waiter's uniform. The black pants and white shirt were present, but over the shirt he wore a black leather armour, light and flexible. Not really enough to protect him from a serious swipe from a strong Grimm, but that was what Aura was for, right?

"I guess you haven't partnered up yet", he replied, turning just slightly to face her. He still hadn't removed his bandage, and with the combined darkness cast upon his face by both the hood and the tree's foliage even his lower face was barely visible. "My name is Jaune Arc. It's a pleasure to meet you".

"I'm Pyrrha", she answered his introduction, even though he already knew her name. "And no, I'm still to find a partner... but I guess now we are partners, right?".

"That is yet to be decided", he shrugged, and then cringed at how harsh it had come out. "I don't mean I wouldn't have you as partner, it's just... better to know if we can get along fine, or if we will try to kill each other by the end of the week".

"Oh", was all she said. From that alone, Jaune couldn't really understand if she had forgiven him for the harshness or not, but then she continued. "I guess that's okay... Although it's kind of a bit unfair for the others: they don't get to dec...".

She trailed off as both their scrolls began to ring. Jaune took his own out with a sigh and answered the call right away.

 _"Given your special circumstances, Mr Arc"_ , said Ozpin's voice on the other end. _"We decided to bend the rules a little. You are now Ms Nikos's partner"_.

He pocketed his scroll again, metaphorically staring off in the distance. _'Great'_ , he thought. _'Let's just hope she's not like her Schnee friend... or even worse like Ruby's sister'_.

"Seems like eye contact messed up and now you're stuck with me", he said wearily. He should've expected Ozpin to pull off something like that. There was a reason students couldn't choose their partners... although he failed to understand it. "Ozpin said so, at least".

"Stuck with you?", she asked in a slightly confused tone. "Why would I be _stuck_ with you?".

He scowled. One thing was to kindly keep away from the issue, but pretending right away his blindness didn't bother her was something else altogether. "Just in case you haven't noticed, I can't see", he replied rigidly. "Surely the... what did Schnee called you?... four times winner of the Mistral-something tournament doesn't want to be stuck with a _handicapped_ like me". He spat the word like venom. Far too many times he had heard that word thrown at him out of pity, wicked amusement or even just ignorance. He was blind, not _handicapped_.

"Didn't you say you can still fight?", she asked, and he could've sworn he heard some hesitation and a good dose of sadness in her voice. Oum alone knew why.

"Of course I can", he retorted, not at all softer. "But _some people_ , namely everyone, thinks that being blind means being unable to take care of oneself".

"Then prove them wrong", she continued, and he laughed. Loud, long and bitter.

"And what do you think I've been doing since I first put on this bandage?", he shot back, unamused. "Sitting around? It's not about what you do. It's about what people think, and people won't change their ideas so easily".

"Well, you still haven't proved yourself to me", she replied, and he heard a vein of anger in her voice. She was getting riled up. "So instead of whining, why don't you show me...".

Before she could finish, a kris shot by her head and embedded itself in the tree behind her. He waited for her to process the action before walking past her and retrieving his kris. When he turned, she still hadn't moved. "Surprised? When I said I could fight you basing on your scent, your sounds and your movements, I wasn't joking".

"That knife flew an inch from my head", she said slowly. "How can you be so precise?".

Before answering, he walked up to her and put a gloved finger on her lips. He felt her stiffen, but he wasn't finished yet. "I can hear you speak, and so I can pinpoint your mouth", he explained before slowly moving his finger from her lips to the side of her head. "The human body is proportionate. I know at which height your mouth is, so I can imagine where the top of your head is, where the sides are, and were the rest of your body is. And that only if you're not moving or fighting. In that case, I can use other sounds to fight back".

"I've never heard someone explain something like that", she admitted, and he was satisfied to hear the trace of confusion replaced by understanding.

"You've never met a blind man", he replied without missing a beat. It wasn't that hard. Also, she was a Huntress in training. She was probably kept in contact only with the fittest people so to learn from them. It was difficult, otherwise, for her to be four times winner of the Mistral-something. "When you lose a sense, you make up with the others".

"Aren't you distressed at not seeing any more?", she asked warily. And she had every right to be, given the subject.

"I was two years ago... surely not now", he replied lightly, trying to keep the memories of that day flowing back to him.

 _"Get up", the man ordered, smirking when the boy stumbled to his feet. "Your will is surely strong... what a pity. It won't help you if you lack the strength to fight"._

 _"I can fight", he replied, his breath ragged and coming in short gasps. "Continue"._

 _"No, you can't fight any more", snickered the man. "I'd really like to just prove it to you, but I'd also like to keep you for a little longer. You're oh so amusing, boy"._

 _"I can still fight", he retorted, tightening his grip on Crocea Mors. "As long as I can see you, I can still fight. When I will fall unconscious, that is when I won't fight any more"._

 _"As long as you can see me? How foolish", laughed the man as he swatted his sword aside and entered the boy's personal space with a grin. "You can_ see _me, but you can't_ fight _me, boy. You're weak"._

 _"I. Can. Fight", he growled back, trying to disengage and failing at that. "I'm not giving up"._

 _"And that's your problem. Giving up means you get to live", said the man, his mirth suddenly gone. The boy tensed. Those were the moments in which the man really taught him something important, and often brutally. "As long as you don't lose something, you think that fighting is just a game. Let me remind you how wrong you are"._

 _Jaune tried to step away from him, and tried to raise his shield in defence, but his limbs were too tired. The shield was merely kicked aside before a steel blade flashed at his face._

 _And then there was pain._

 _Blinding, agonizing pain burst from his eyes. Immediately dropping his weapons, he brought his bare hands to his face, only to find it drenched with blood. All he could see was the crimson of his own blood and the black of darkness. There was nothing else in the world. The pain was rising, tearing a scream after the other from him as he curled into a ball and tried to somehow lessen it. Ripping a strip of cloth from his shirt, he tried to wipe off the blood, but it just kept flowing, and his vision didn't clear up._

 _The man just watched it in silence, a tiny smirk on his face, as the boy finally lost consciousness._

Jaune shook himself. That had been two years prior, just a couple of months after he had met the man. Or rather, after the man had met him. That was past. He had to focus on the present.

"Jaune?".

"I was just lost in thought for a second", he replied, beginning to walk away, the girl following soon after. Somehow, his Semblance also let him know where the North was. Maybe it was something to do with North's magnetism, related to metals, related to his telekinetic Semblance. Not even Oum had all the answers, so it was normal that to a mere mortal even something like that was a mystery.

"How do you know it's this way?", she asked, and it made sense. She didn't know his Semblance.

"Dunno", he replied, shrugging. "Maybe it has something to do with my Semblance, or the fact I'm blind".

She made a sound of agreement before they both fell back into silence. It wasn't the `something awkward was said` kind of silence. It was more of a `got nothing more to say` silence. In that silence, they continued to walk toward the `abandoned temple` Ozpin wanted them to reach.

The forest wasn't too thick, at least for his own standards, so they weren't particularly slowed down, but the silence began to feel a bit too heavy to bear. Eventually, Pyrrha broke it.

"So... you kinda said you lost your sight two years ago", she said slowly, as if expecting him to lash out. "If you don't mind sharing...".

"I mind", he bit back angrily, and then sighed when she stiffened audibly. "Sorry, I'm not exactly used to sharing. It'll probably come out during the first month of school. Besides, it's not a good memory".

"Sorry for bringing it up", she said, and she sounded really sorry.

"It's not that much of a deal", he shrugged off her apology. "It taught me something and besides, it's not like moping around will give me my sight back".

"I'm sorry", she repeated, but he stopped her with a hand.

"You weren't the cause of this. If you were...". He thought about it for a second. "Well, probably right now I'd be either dead or running. You had no influence on what happened. You can be sorry only on what you did, not on what just happened".

"Was it a Grimm?", she asked, and it was his turn to stiffen.

"I guess that will come out on its own", he said, and resumed to walk North, Pyrrha in tow.

#####

Half an hour later, eight teens were arguing in the temple's clearing. Or rather, four of those teens were arguing, while three stared at them and one, unable to stare, laid on the grass, enjoying the warmth of the Sun's rays on his skin for as long as he could.

The subject of the argument was whether they needed to kill the Ursa Major a girl called Nora Valkyrie had ridden straight into the clearing, or use it as she had previously done. The poor Grimm, exhausted, could barely growl softly whenever the word `ride` came up again in the conversation. The four discussing it were Nora, Ruby and Yang for the `let's ride (growl) it back!` against Weiss for the `let's just kill him`. A Giant Nevermore, apparently one Ruby and Weiss had used as transport, was cawing loudly from the trees, but he wouldn't dare approach the eight teens without backup. He wasn't _that_ stupid. Even mindlessness had a limit.

And said limit was a group of Huntsmen and Huntresses in training. They were even more dangerous than a group of experienced Huntsmen: they were incline to chase Grimm for fun way more than the adults.

The four who _weren't_ arguing were instead enjoying the peace. Jaune was laying on the grass, the cat Faunus Blake had taken a book out of who knew where and was reading it, the boy who was oh so obviously paired with Nora, his name was Ren, was standing stock-still beside his partner, not saying a word, and Pyrrha was keeping an eye on the Ursa, that was so tired it couldn't even move. After a while, Weiss won the argument and Nora, ruefully, killed the Ursa. Jaune was almost sure he heard a sigh of relief coming from the beast, but he pushed the idea out of his head. Even Nora couldn't be that bad.

Right?

He shook his head as he heard someone sit beside him. Basing on the scent of bronze and orange scent, it was Pyrrha. "Hey", she just said, plopping down beside him.

"Hey", he replied, sitting up. "What do you want?".

"Do I need to have a purpose in order to talk to you?", she asked, friendly. "I just wanted to chat a little".

"What about?", he countered easily, checking his hood to keep it from showing his face. Since she was going to be his partner, she was probably going to see his scars, but he would delay the moment for as long as he could. Being pitied for his blindness was already enough. He surely did not want them to worry about his scars. He just hoped Ruby wasn't gonna end up in her team. "Sorry, but for the time being I'm not keen on talking of my past".

"I... It's okay", she said, a little saddened by his response. "I... I just wanted to know why do you keep your hood always up... I mean, I know you're blind but... it shouldn't make any difference, should it?".

He turned to `look` at her. Maybe he would show her beforehand, after all. She was going to know just the same, and maybe it was better if she saw his scars not all at the same time. Especially because his face _wouldn't_ have been the worst off, hadn't his eyes been damaged like that. "I could show you, if you want", he said. His plan was moderately dangerous but, hey, she was bound to see his scars soon in any case. If he had to receive pity, he might as well get on with it. "Just try not to be too obvious when commenting. I'm showing only you, just because you're my partner".

"O-Okay", she agreed warily, waiting for him to move.

The first thing he did was to remove his bandage, letting the heavy cloth fall on his lap. His face was still covered. He could still go back, say he wasn't ready yet, or some other crap like that. She would've probably believed it. Heck, she would've probably felt sorry for having caused him to be uncomfortable. He had known her for less than an hour, and he already knew she was of the type who apologized for everything. She would probably apologize for his scars, too, or for having pushed him into revealing them.

With a deep breath, he threw the hood back, exposing his face.

#####

Pyrrha could honestly say she had never seen scars like those on a person before.

She had met people with many scars, horrible scars and frightening scars before. Her own parents had a few scars. She herself had her fair share of small scars from her training, and basically all the students at Sanctum had their own. All the Huntsmen she had met had scars to remember them that they were untouchable. Not even Vero Tear, a son of a bitch and her greatest rival in the ring, had been spared by the inevitable signs of training.

All of that paled to what she was saw on Jaune's face.

His scars were many, and they were terrible, but what caught her attention the most was that they looked inflicted by a blade, and so by a _person_. _Someone_ had maimed the boy so horribly. She had always had the childish idea that a scar on the face could only be the ever-famous diagonal scar from temple to chin, but she was oh so wrong.

Jaune's scars were everywhere on his face.

The horror wasn't that he didn't have unblemished patches of skin, but that the scars didn't look clean. They looked rough and ruptured, as if they had healed naturally, without any kind of treatment. And some of them were far too wide to have just been slashed open. Some of those scars had been _worked on_. Whoever had done that had taken the time to inflict large wounds and passing time and again on the old ones.

A single horizontal scar was all what was left of the obviously terrible wound that had blinded the boy. It ran from side to side, a line of harder and rougher flesh on his otherwise smooth skin. It would've been whiter, too, but with his bandage and hood always on, his face was already ghostly white.

All other kinds of scars ran across his face. His lips were cut twice by two different scars, one almost at the left corner of his mouth and the other just a bit to the right of the middle of his lips. A scar on his cheek seemed large enough to indicate that the wound that had caused it had actually hacked through, cutting the flesh open. He had literally found a blade in his mouth without having parted his lips. Her stomach recoiled as she stifled a whimper. He was obviously her own age, so he must've been even younger when that happened. _'Two years'_ , her mind supplied. _'He said he lost his sight two years ago'_. He had been fifteen at the time.

What kind of monster could do that to a child? She shivered. Jaune didn't seem mentally broken, and she thanked whatever God had been watching over him for that, but his appearance wasn't the one of a normal seventeen-year-old boy any more. Whoever had done that, she would find. Jaune was her partner now, right? Then she would find whoever had maimed a _child_ so horribly, and they would pay for that. She was the Invincible Girl, after all, the Goddess of Victory.

The Goddess of Victory then felt curious.

"J-Jaune?", she whimpered, her voice shaking audibly. "C-Can you... o-open your e-eyes?".

For a long moment, she thought he would refuse. He just stood still, not moving, and not saying a word. The seconds ticked away, and he remained in silence, and she was sure her words had pissed him off. _'Of course'_ , she berated herself with a pained grimace. _'He's blind. Way to go, Pyrrha Nikos'_.

And then he slowly opened his eyes and stared at her.

His eyes were... strange. Not in the blind kind of strange. First of all, they weren't white. They looked completely normal. Of a blue so deep she felt as if she could fall into it and drown into the ocean in his eyes, his eyes behave strangely. He blinked slowly, too slowly, and his eyes weren't, like most, continually shifting fractionally, taking in thousands of details every time. His eyes were set on her face, unconsciously meeting her own green ones. They would've been incredibly handsome, on a normal boy. On his scarred face, they felt wrong. They were devoid of the harshness his skin had. They felt off. As if someone had replaced his true eyes with a child's.

His abnormally slow blinking, his eyes' steady gaze and the fact that he did not react at all when she grimaced at him proved he couldn't see her. To him, she was just a voice, a scent, some sounds, and a personality. She had no visual description. If he had to describe her to someone, he would use everything but visual characteristics. She filled up with sorrow. He couldn't see all the colours, all the shades, all the marvellous things in the world.

On the other hand, he didn't treat anyone differently just because of their looks. Pyrrha didn't know if to feel sad about what happened to him, or to feel proud he had endured it and found strength in it. In the end, she opted for both.

"I'm sorry", she said quietly, screwing her eyes shut to avoid the moistness in them to become tears but her voice, muffled by the lump she felt in her throat, gave her away.

Her eyes snapped open again when she felt a hand cupping her cheek and making her look at him. The expression on his face was a mixed one. Idly, she wondered how he could've maintained such facial expressiveness with the fact he kept it hidden most of the time. His eyes and light smile were soft, but there was pain hidden behind them, she could tell. She had long learned how to see past façades.

"You weren't the one who did this", he told her calmly. "And you can't do anything about it. Let it go. If I managed it, you surely can".

She finally found the strength to nod, and he got the message since his hand was still on her cheek. He retrieved it a second later to tie the cloth back on his eyes, hiding his ocean-deep eyes from sight again.

Then he pulled his hood up, and he was a shadow yet again.

 ** _I hate having already reached my 50 documents limit in my account. Ah, well, I guess I was bound to. And yes, Vero Tear and his Team TTNN (Titan) will show up._**

 ** _I make no promises on what will happen._**

 ** _Until next time,_**

 ** _Khor Evik Vlakhavlakh_**


End file.
